Now before anyone gets offended, please hear me out. I am not saying that the Holocaust was not a real and terrible thing. I am also not saying that anyone who eats meat is a Nazi or anything weird like that. I encourage you to simply look at the straight facts and come to your own decision. The only comparison I am making is that in the Holocaust, Jews and other discriminated groups such as homosexuals and gypsies were treated very similarly to how we treat animals today.

The Numbers:The Holocaust killed about 5,820,960Jews alone (not including non-jews and people who were displaced and/or permanently scared by the Holocaust). This number is according to http://faculty.ucc.edu/egh-damerow/Statistics.htm by the way.

According to http://www.cok.net/lit/statistics2003.php (who got the info from the USDA) in 2003 at least9.1 billion ( if you want that with the zeroes, somthing like: 9,000,000,000 ) land (fish are not counted)animals where killed for food. Keep in mind, that is per year. Broken down this is:

Chickens: 8.68 billion (down less than 1 percent from 2002)

Turkeys: 267 million (down less than 1 percent from 2002)

Ducks: 24.3 million (up 1 percent from 2002)

Cattle: 35.5 million (down 1 percent from 2002)

Calves: 1 million (down 4 percent from 2002)

Pigs: 101 million (up 1 percent from 2002)

Sheep and Lambs: 2.98 million (down 9 percent from 2002)

Transportation/Living Conditions:To get to the Nazi death camps people were separated from their families, crammed into train car like sardines and forced to stand in their own urine and defecation on the way to their death or slavery.
Animals, after being separated from their parents at birth are shoved into tiny cages for their entire lives only to be moved into tiny trucks and trains to be taken to slaughter. Their entire lives they live standing in their own excretions in cramped conditions surrounded by the bodies of the fallen. Many animals do not even make it to slaughter and/or if they do most cannot walk off the ramp on their own two feet because of the extreme genetically forced growth that causes their legs to buckle and break. Not to mention various diseases and even tumors that are permitted by the FDA.

Branding:
In the Holocaust, the “lucky” ones were tattooed and sometimes branded then sent into slavery. The same is done in the cattle industry and the same was often done to African slaves. Until you have had a burning hot brand pressed onto your skin until you can smell flesh burning, don’t tell me branding doesn’t hurt. If you honestly think branding is kind I challenge you to hold a piece of metal in a candle flame till it’s red hot and hold it on your skin long enough to leave a permanent mark. (Don’t actually do that … it’ll hurt like heck)I’m sure anyone who has suffered a significant burn before can give you the details. From the mild burns I’ve experienced I would not want to be branded. Not to mention, branding is often done when the cattle are little and (assuming it’s a male cow) they are usually castrated at the same time (without anesthesia – you can ask a guy for an estimate of what that would feel like). From what I’ve heard, tattooing is not that pleasant either (not as bad as branding I’m sure), especially when it is done unwillingly.
Also, Holocaust victims were regarded by their number, not as individuals (same as animals).

Outlasting their “usefulness”:During the Holocaust, people who where kept as slaves where executed once they where no longer useful. The same is also true of animals. For example, dairy cows and chickens, once they have outlived their ability to produce milk or eggs (not to mention that their babies are removed from them to get these products. Baby male chicks are usually suffocated in garbage bags or slammed against the concrete till they die. Male cattle babies are often turned into veal – and treated horribly in order to make them more “tender” – … oh yes, and did I mention that chicken’s beeks – which have TONS of nerve ending in them so you could basically compare it to having their thumb hacked off – are snipped off again without anesthesia) are then sold to slaughter. They often go into things like chicken nuggets or other ground up meat so you cannot see the bruises on their battered bodies.

Death:During the Holocaust men, women and children often went to gas chambers or even the ovens (alive) to die. Animals, while they are supposed to be anesthetized, are often numbed improperly because of the mass numbers of animals the factory is handling (it isn’t all automated, humans are involved in the “disassembly” line and human errors do occur … in some of the worst factories these mistakes are intentionally overlooked because they would slow down production) and get their throats slit, go to the broiler or even get skinned alive, awake and painfully aware.

Testing:The Nazis performed tests on human beings that they considered to be less than them (checkout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentationfor more info on that). So today we do with animals. The tests are not (in most cases) required by law and are not entirely representative of the results on human subjects. Check the links below for more info.

Leather:
Most of you know where leather comes from … cow skin. The cows that are skinned are the same ones that are also sent to slaughter. A lot of the leather has been made in developing countries that have little or no humane laws to protect animals used for food. The cows live miserable lives and are eventually killed before their time.
Alternatives: PLEATHER! Check out the blog entry on vegan shoes for examples. Also, there are many other materials things like shoes, bags, jackets … etc can be made out of.

Fur:Fur too is an obvious. It comes from furry little critters who have been skinned for their warm fur. Often times they are beaten to death to avoid damaging their “pelts”. In fur farms they are treated similarly to cows, chickens and pigs in factory farms. Some times even DOGS AND CATS are used in fur. It is not always required that fur products list what animal are used in the fur product and it takes about 24 cats per cat coat and up to 15 in dog coats ( check out: http://www.voice4dogs.org/howfurisused.htm ). It’s very disturbingand I don’t recommend it for week stomachs, but you can visit the following sites for info and pictures of what goes on: http://www.hsus.org/furfree/cruel_reality/ – http://fur.elehost.com/– (note the following is a PETA site, and I’m not certain of their methods or accuracy, but it’s hard to deny the footage … note, I am unsure the organization is reliable and do not currently support them … the fur industry is a real problem and Peta is not the ONLY source of this info. I listed other sources so that you could cross check … etc. sometimes they get things right.) http://www.peta.org/feat-fatalfashion.asp.

Wool:
Despite what you might assume, while it shouldn’t hurt the sheep to remove their hair sheep are often mistreated. Sheering is done at a time that can cause death by exposure (they sheer the sheep to soon for living outside) and shearers are paid by the pound, not per sheep and thus do not treat the sheep kindly. They are often nicked and cut by the razor and some times much more painful damage. also, as soon as sheep’s usefulness is over (as with most animals used by humans) they are sold off in auction to be murdered and served up as food. Check out: http://www.downbound.com/Wool_s/271.htm, http://www.savethesheep.com/ , http://www.animalsvoice.com/PAGES/writes/editorial/investigations/misc/wrong_wool.html … there are more and I haven’t reprinted all the info here …
Alternatives: Cotton and synthetic wool

Over all, Leather, Fur, Silk and Wool are usually quite expensive anyway and all have (often cheeper)alternatives. Please keep in mind that these animal CAN FEEL PAIN AND FEAR and possibly more (see the “Do animals have feelings?” post).

If you are concerned about silk, leather fur or wool products you may own, make sure you are practical. If you own products that contain these items and you wish to stop supporting these industries consider if throwing away all the items you already have will help anyone? You have already given them your money. I would recommend replacing these items over time as they break … etc or even selling them and using the profit to either buy replacement, cruelty free items or giving the money to an animal charity (or a little of both). As I said, check out the Vegan Shoes post for links to leather alternatives.